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Virtual Jousting League
' The '''Virtual Jousting League', or VJL for short, is a premier SL jousting organization in the virtual world of Second Life that focuses exclusively on "full contact jousting" and "legacy jousting" or jousting closely related to the currently practiced competitive sport in real life, and less on the concept of jousting as defined as a game by SL physics. The league was founded on May 9, 2014 and its commissioner is Nyza Stillwater. On October 1, 2014, Stillwater agreed to merge the Virtual Jousting League with the developing Medieval Games Fellowship group, and make up the group's jousting division. On February 17, 2015, Stillwater returned VJL to its own group but retains in close contact with the Medieval Games Fellowship. His reasons for returning VJL to its own group were due to his vision for a renewed focus on realistic jousting and the fact that this kind of jousting lacked its own group. The group was mostly dormant in 2016, but recently revived on Jan. 1st, 2017 with a changed structure, focusing on a weekly tournament series. Legacy or Full Contact Jousts The "Legacy Joust" and "Full Contact" Jousts are more an old-school joust bend on realistic jousting as close to its counterpart in real life. Unlike standards practices that has surfaced today making up the majority of jousts and favor what is possible in the virtual world and akin to its physics, these jousts are contoured to special limits and rules to make jousting more interesting in that it requires more cunning tactics rather than unrealistic moves. Jousts may follow the standard 3 or 5 hits in 8 or 10 passes rule, or may adapt a best after 8 passes formula, practiced by real life jousting organizations today. Turn limits tend to be 35 degrees or less. With the KK List, this is set to 20 degrees, which renders harsh turns impractical. Virtual Team Jousting League The Virtual Team Jousting League was a sub-group of the Virtual Jousting League. It fostered and promoted a team conference format where teams play weekly matches against other teams. At the end of the season (two seasons a year), the teams with the best records qualify to compete in the playoffs, and the team that wins in the finals is crowned the VTJL Conference Champion. This is currently on hold until further notice. Establishment & Features The Virtual Jousting League was established on May 9, 2014 as a result of Nyza Stillwater's dissatisfaction with the state of virtual jousting in Second Life, as well as disagreements with certain established policies and a general lack of organization and accountability with other jousting groups in SL. Stillwater believed in a more open-ended group that promoted all jousting groups, regardless of their beliefs, structure, or affiliation. At the same time, the VJL was established to promote Stillwater's vision of a more competitive, meta-goal based league that fostered growth, camaraderie, structure, and fun. VJL promoted what it calls 'divisions' which encompass different types of jousts, from the team jousts, to the individual jousts which include the current standard and the original 'legacy' standard. With the foundation of the Medieval Games Fellowshipby Bri McMahon and Jotow and similar ideas between the two and Stillwater, the Virtual Jousting League effectively merged with MGF on October 1, 2014. The Virtual Jousting League re-emerged on Feb. 17, 2015 and renewed its dedication to promoting realistic jousting in Second Life. Today, the primary features of the Virtual Jousting League are: * Promotion of Val Kish's RLV Controller for Unhorsing * Promotion of a "Full Contact Joust" which is closely organized in a fashion comparable to real life jousting with a specific number of passes that must be run, limits on turns/strike zones, unhorsings, and different points dependent on unhorsings or shattered lances * Promotion of the Legacy Joust, which was the original standard in SL for jousting. 20 or 35 degree turns or less with the regular 1 point for each hit system and no full contact joust system. * Education on how jousting is done in real life and creating standards akin to real life jousting. * Promotion of good sportsmanship, honor, and fair jousting in SL. Originally, the primary features of the Virtual Jousting League were: * Standings are calculated based on the Number of Points a jouster has acquired (from top 4 finishes) and is then divided by the Number of Tournaments they have entered * A meta-goal achievements based system, which showcases and promotes individual milestones on their jousting journey * A monthly round robin joust * A headquarters with group information as well as promotion of other jousts, joust products, and other joust organizations * Promotion of ALL jousting groups, even if they are not affiliated with VJL, for the benefit of promoting SL Jousting in general * A website devoted exclusively to statistics and scores of individual joust matches, with a profile page for every jouster, who can then track their jousting records * Services that help joust organizers with their events * Training classes for jousters, officials, and host organizers (coming soon) * A Team Conference System, which promotes team-based competitive play * Opportunities for support from potential sponsors, which results in business partnerships